According to the cornerstone, the building now housing the Herzstein Memorial Museum was built in 1919 as a Methodist-Episcopal Church. It incorporates the cornerstone of an earlier church on this site. It is also the location of Clayton’s first public school. That was an adobe structure which faced south and was situated toward the rear of the present building.

At one time, there were two Methodist Congregations in Clayton. The one housed in this building and known as the North Methodist and another congregation called the South Methodist Church. In the 1930’s, the two churches united, retaining the South Methodist preacher but meeting in the North Methodist building.

In the 1960’s, the congregation constructed a more modern, ground-level facility on North Fifth Avenue and left this building unused for several years. When the Union County Historical Society reorganized in 1972, a generous gift from the Chilcote family allowed the historical society to purchase the property and allowed the Methodist Church to discharge the mortgage on their new building.

Albert Herzstein, born in Trinidad in 1907, was raised in Clayton and remembered his boyhood hometown very fondly. His father, Morris, took his family to Denver in 1920. Over the years, Mr. Herzstein had subscribed to the local newspaper. After reading the hopes and dreams of the local group, he came to the rescue with a generous grant to restore the old church and give it entirely new mechanical systems, including an elevator.

As a church, the historic building served a number of community purposes. Until 1939 and the advent of a WPA-built public library, the community library was on the stage in the lower level of the museum. The large room was a venue for large community gatherings and banquets served from the church kitchen which remains essentially intact. The large room also served as a community basketball court and roller-skating rink. A portion of the area now devoted to the museum’s medical exhibit and the neighboring storage area was once a one-lane bowling alley. For a number of years, the Clayton Rotary Club met in the “alley.”

The Herzstein Memorial Museum was dedicated on October 1, 1988, in recognition of funds provided by the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation, “in memory of our parents, Lola Walker and Spencer Avis and Lena and Morris Herzstein” and in memory of Albert’s sister, Sadie Herzstein Smith.

The Union County Historical Society was incorporated under the laws of the State of New Mexico on September 24, 1971 and received its 501(c)(3) non-profit organization certificate the following year. The purpose of the society was and remains primarily to operate a museum in an historic former Methodist-Episcopal Church in downtown Clayton.

The society was successful in securing the financial backing of the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation of Houston, Texas, in restoring and revitalizing the structure which is now the Herzstein Memorial Museum. Mr. Herzstein, the son of one of New Mexico’s pioneer Jewish mercantile families, was raised in Clayton. Over the years, the Herzstein Foundation has remained a significant contributor, the initial grant for the museum’s endowment fund.

The society provides the operating costs of the museum through memberships, donations (admission is free) and gift shop sales.

The society has received two IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services) grants through the American Association of Museums. These include a Museum Assessment Plan (MAP) and a Conservation Assessment Project (CAP) which is being completed in the Spring of 2005. The Museum hosted a Smithsonian exhibit (“Yesterday’s Tomorrows”) in 2005 under the auspices of the New Mexico Humanities Council and its final report was noted as one of the best written, most comprehensive received.

The society is generously supported by the Clayton Lodger’s Tax Committee which provides salary for two part time employees, a curator and a registrar, as well as various tourism-related projects. There have been a number of local grant sponsors including The First National Bank of New Mexico, the Farmers and Stockmens Bank, R.W. Isaacs Hardware Store and Hass Funeral Directors. A generous grant was received from the Strake Foundation of Houston with some funds from the local VFW Auxiliary for the military exhibit. ENMRPlateau Telecommunications has provided several grants including one to enhance the museum’s presence on the Internet.

The Union County Historical Society maintains its membership in the American Association of Museums, the Santa Fe Trail Association, the Historical Society of New Mexico and the New Mexico Association of Museums (NMAM). The museum became an official Santa Fe Trail interpretive center (through the National Parks Service) in the Spring of 2005.

Thank you for visiting us on the Internet. We look forward to seeing you in our museum.